this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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Explain Like I'm Five

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The case for down voting/anonymous social negativity to strangers (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 days ago by j4k3@lemmy.world to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world
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This place seems dead. I was skimming some stuff to make a few posts, after posting a basic casual conversation, the negativity shut me down like usual. I am sitting here with 5 tabs and some interesting stuff, but I'm totally disinterested in trying or even spending any more time here this evening. What value does that add for anyone when this place is dying a slow death of disinterest and low engagement? I never add negativity. I only ignore and block. I never discourage because I know I would be shooting myself in the foot. Why is this not fundamentally standard logic for everyone. If you disagree about opinions, appreciate diversity and ignore or better yet discuss. Anonymous negativity to strangers is psychotic behavior that should never have existed in the first place. It is not normal. It is no different that walking up to a stranger in a supermarket and yelling at them for what they wear or how they talk. That is crazy stupid.

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[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I understand. I don't instantly block someone, but if the choice is between arguing pointlessly and blocking them or the community, I'll block and move on. This does impact how useful the site can be for me, but I don't think using it less is a bad thing.

I've come to the conclusion that social media is simply bad for a person, because I think it amplifies negativity. I'm not sure if it's because we can't see each other, or if it's the asynchrony preserving what might have been a fleeting nasty thought and echoing it undiminished into the future, or that and more. I can't think of a way to fix it - at least, not a way other than being the change I want to see, but it's hard (as you've found) and takes a heavy toll on my emotionally-dysregulated ass. And sometimes I'm not the change I want to see - said emotional dysregulation is a bitch to manage.

Maybe that's what community is, a constant struggle to communicate effectively with other people. Or maybe platforms like lemmy and reddit only claim to offer community, but don't really. Maybe they can't, with all the pseudonymity. Maybe nowhere can, nowadays, with so many bad-faith actors seemingly infiltrating every online space that exists.

I'm sorry you feel beaten down by it, bud. I don't have answers, but you're not alone. As a maker, remember: everything you build will outlast the negativity. The blizzard of shit takes will wash away with time, posts being deleted to save space and so on. Your creations will be shared and preserved by the people that like them and find them useful. I take solace in that, personally; maybe you can find some too.

Edit: top lel. I haven't read this yet but the headline jumped out at me after having just posted the above: https://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2025-01-07/the-internet-hasnt-made-us-bad-we-were-already-like-that-the-mistake-of-yearning-for-the-friendly-online-world-of-20-years-ago.html